


winter getaway

by carrieevew



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Late Valentine's Day, Married Couple, SO MUCH FLUFF, Seriously people, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Winter Getaway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29721900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrieevew/pseuds/carrieevew
Summary: for the prompt:Bellamy and Clarke just need a little bit of time away so they rent a cabin in the mountains. It turns out a little time away and a little bit of relaxation is all they need.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 18
Kudos: 70
Collections: The t100 Writers for BLM Initiative





	winter getaway

**Author's Note:**

> written for a prompt submitted through the t100 fic for Black Lives Matter initiative. for more information about the project, visit [our carrd](https://t100fic-for-blm.carrd.co/) or [our tumblr](https://t100fic-for-blm.tumblr.com/).
> 
> also, a quick fyi, i realised halfway through planning this that this little verse bears a striking resemblance to [a story i previously wrote](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27406984) but by then i was so into the idea that i didn't want to change it. dear prompter, i hope you don't mind.
> 
> enjoy!

Clarke dug through her jewellery box, looking for her grandmother’s earrings, when she felt a small hand tugging on her dressing gown.

“Mama,” she heard Julia mutter watery, “I don’t feel so good.”

Clarke ducked down in front of her daughter, eye-to-eye with the four-year-old. Julia had tears in her eyes and unnaturally red cheeks, and the painful grimace on her face broke Clarke’s heart.

“What’s wrong, baby?” she asked. Running a hand over Julia’s hot, clammy forehead gave her a pretty good idea, though.

A tear escaped from Julia’s eye and her lower lip wobbled. “It all hurts,” the little girl rasped and Clarke suspected a seriously sore throat.

She took Julia by the hand and led her to the bathroom. Clarke found the thermometer, put in under her daughter’s arm and gave her a quick exam in the meantime. And sure enough, her throat was red, her fever was climbing and a sudden coughing fit nearly knocked Julia off the sink counter.

Clarke lifted her daughter into her arms and Julia’s hands immediately snaked around her neck, squeezing as tightly as the girl had the strength for. She carried Julia to her room and put her down on the bed and asked her to wait with a kiss to Julia’s burning forehead.

On her way out of the room, Clarke turned around for a quick look and her throat closed at the sight of her baby slumped and in pain. With a heavy breath, Clarke walked out and went to the nursery, where Bellamy, in perfectly fitted slacks and no shirt on, was getting Emily ready for bed. The little girl was already half-asleep in her father’s arms and in spite of her mood, Clarke smiled at the sight. Seeing Bellamy taking such a good care of their children was always like a balm to her.

She watched the two of them for a moment, not wanting to disturb the peace or wake Emily up but she had no doubt that Bellamy knew she was there—not when he turned around to look at her already smiling. He must’ve noticed her sombre expression though because he frowned immediately and froze mid-step. Emily yawned in his arms, so Bellamy put her down into her crib, turned on the monitor and walked out of the room, grabbing Clarke by the hand on his way out.

He tugged Clarke out into their bedroom. “What’s wrong?” he asked in a whisper.

Clarke sighed. “Julia’s ill. Fever, sore throat, cough, all the works.”

Bellamy groaned and ran a hand through his hair.

“So, I guess that’s in for out Valentine’s Date, huh?”

Clarke nodded with a disappointed grimace.

It’s been a while since they’d been able to go out, just the two of them. It was hard enough with just Noah right out of high school—they were young, scared parents and they were somewhat overwhelmed. But when Clarke got pregnant for the third time, when he was 8 and Julia was 2, it became pretty clear that all their evenings for the foreseeable future would be booked solid.

It wasn’t until almost a year and a half after Emily was born that they felt ready to leave the kids with the grandmothers and have themselves a proper date. They had tickets for some stupid romantic comedy, which only value was that it wasn’t animated, a table in their favourite restaurant booked and Clarke even decided to wear her sensible boots, so that they could go on a long walk along the river.

None of which mattered much when their kids were ill—and they both knew that if one was even sniffling, the others were soon to follow.

“I’m gonna go check on Noah,” Bellamy said, grabbing his t-shirt from the bed and tugging it over his head. Clarke’s lips twitched into a ghost of a smile when she saw Winnie the Pooh paired with his slacks.

Bellamy noticed her expression and rolled his eyes with small snort. His hair was falling into his eyes and even despite the situation, Clarke was flooded with love and desire. Damn, she really had high expectations for the evening.

“I’m gonna call my mother, ask her to come in earlier and bring her med bag,” she said, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. This wasn’t really a moment to start lusting after her husband.

After Bellamy left, she took the pins out of her hair, pulled on her leggings and a sweater and went back to Julia’s, where the girl had already climbed under her duvet and was hugging the stuffing out of her three favourite teddy bears. Clarke sat down on the bed and brushed the long, dark curls away from Julia’s forehead and with her other hand, she dialled her mother to ask for help.

By the time they disconnected, Bellamy was already standing in the doorway, nodding his head in resignation.

“Noah’s down, too,” he confirmed. He walked over to Julia’s and crouched in front of their daughter, trying to smile reassuringly. He took out the butterfly clips still tangled in her hair and when Julia wiped her nose with the back of her hand, sniffling, they both looked at each other in understanding. There was no ‘going out’ happening any time soon.

***

Clarke finished changing Emily and rocked her daughter in her arms, blowing gentle raspberries to her cheeks to make her laugh. Emily giggled and patted Clarke on the forehead, babbling to herself.

She turned around and saw Josephine, spread over the massive armchair in the corner, reading through the children-appropriate book of Greek myths with impressive focus. As if sensing she was being watched, Josie looked up from the book and measured Clarke and Emily from top to bottom. Clarke couldn’t say why was Josie so interested in watching her take care of the kids, other than that she might’ve been conducting some sort of an anthropological experiment.

But then again, she also couldn’t say how exactly did she and Josephine reconnect in the first place. They used to be quite close in high school, if only because they were distant cousins, but after Clarke graduated with baby Noah on his way and Josephine left to travel with her boyfriend, the two of them haven’t even talked for years—not until and couple of years ago when Josephine suddenly came back and decided she wanted to have Clarke in her life again.

Clarke wasn’t sure about it at first, her cousin being one of those people who used to say that a baby at such a young age would ruin her life and her relationship with Bellamy couldn’t possibly last, but somehow, it worked for them. Josephine was the “funny aunt” who always spoke to the kids with big words, like they were grown-ups and frankly, Clarke didn’t mind having her to talk to either. Josephine may have been spoilt, stubborn and opinionated but she was also a literal genius and a stimulating conversationalist.

Even though lately, she was mainly complaining about her on-again-off-again relationship with Gabriel.

“You know, I don’t see the point of watering down the mythology for the sake of preserving the child’s innocence,” Josephine said, waving the book in front of her. “Sooner or later, they will learn about the harsh realities.”

Clarke snorted and shook her head. “Somehow, I don’t feel the need to tell my one-year-old exactly where did the Minotaur come from just yet,” she answered with a smile and walked out of the nursery, Josie following after them with a shrug.

They went back to the living room, where Clarke deposited Emily in her padded play area and moved on to the kitchen, to start preparing dinner. Helpful as always, Josephine positioned herself so that she could carry on the conversation and also keep an eye on Emily.

Clarke was halfway through peeling the potatoes when Josephine sighed and sent her a pointed look. Ah, yes, Gabriel. They haven’t talked about him in a who hour.

“Josie, you do remember you’re the one who proposed you two take a break, right?”

“Cause I expected him to say no, that he couldn’t live without me, not to agree that it was for the better!” Josie countered, eyebrows raised like it was all so obvious. Like anything about those two ever was. “Can you imagine him breaking it off _now_? We’re supposed to leave on our ski trip on Friday and he just walks away? Couldn’t he wait a week?!”

Clarke’s fingers tightened around the peeler involuntarily. It wasn’t that she was jealous that Josie had the time and resources to go on one holiday after another, it’s just that—well, alright, maybe she was a little jealous.

“Couldn’t you?” she huffed, glancing sideways at Josie. Her cousin rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything.

Clarke felt for Josie, she really did. Her relationship with Gabriel was the most explosive thing Clarke had even witnessed, with all the break ups, fights and drama, and she was getting exhausted just by hearing about it; she could not imagine living through it and she knew that the last decade with Gabriel hadn’t been easy on Josephine either. But it wasn’t simple to forget that she and Bellamy hadn’t been on a proper holiday since their honeymoon before Julia was even born.

“You know, if you’re so keen on this trip, you could just go by yourself,” Clarke said, putting away the potatoes. “It’s not like you needed him to split the cost and you can still have fun by yourself.”

“Of course I can,” Josie shot back, indignant. “But this is _Sanctum_ , Clarke,” she pointed out and well, she did have a point. The place was known as a romantic getaway for a reason and Clarke could imagine it wasn’t the ideal place to visit after a break up.

“We got the full-on couple’s treatment,” Josie continued. “The separate cabin, spa treatments, romantic dinner. This was supposed to be our Valentine’s Day celebration, I can hardly do that alone, what would everyone think?”

Clarke exhaled loudly and turned around, one hip resting against the counter, her arms crossed over her chest. “Josie, if I had the chance to go to Sanctum, I’d jump on in as I am, apron and slippers, and I wouldn’t care if the whole staff came over to pity me,” she half-joked, shaking her head lightly. She chuckled to herself and grabbed the washcloth but when she looked over at Josephine, a frown crept up over her brow. Her cousin wasn’t smiling, in fact she stared at Clarke with narrowed eyes and a calculating look in her eyes.

“You take it, then,” she finally spoke, jerking her chin at Clarke.

Clarke’s frown deepened, washcloth hanging from her hand limply. “Take what?”

“The trip, _obviously_ , you go to Sanctum,” she explained with a cocked eyebrow and a small wave of her head, like she couldn’t believe Clarke wasn’t following. “With Bellamy,” she added after a moment, as if just remembering him.

Clarke blinked at her, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Her mind went blank for a second, like the proposition hit some sort of a reset button in her brain, until she heard Emily laughing from the living room. She walked to the door and peeked around to see that her daughter was having a very animated and amusing conversation with her stuffed puppy and when she returned to the kitchen counter, Josephine was looking at her expectantly.

“I—we can’t go anywhere now,” Clarke countered. “The kids have only just recovered, we can’t just leave them now, or Bellamy his job, not on such a short notice.”

Josephine listened, nodding, but from her expression, Clarke could tell it wasn’t to show she was agreeing with her arguments.

“Your mother is a doctor, she can take better care of them than you two combined, if something happens. And it’s just a weekend, you can leave Thursday afternoon if he can’t get two full days off,” Josephine spoke slowly, like she was explaining it all to a child. Clarke pursed her lips, unimpressed, but she couldn’t very well argue with a point well made.

Still, she had never been one for such spontaneity and she struggled with simply agreeing to a trip out of nowhere, even if for now, all she’d be agreeing to would be to talk to Bellamy about it.

Sensing Clarke’s hesitation, Josephine got up and stood in front of her, hands propped up on her hips.

“Look, go or don’t go, it doesn’t make _me_ any difference, I’m gonna stay here to try and convince Gabriel that there’s no need for a break. But you and Bellamy haven’t been alone for more than a few hours in so long, I’m almost surprised you managed to get yourself pregnant with the last one, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t enjoy a few days away,” Josie said, eyebrows raised knowingly. “The trip’s already paid for, too, if that helps you make a decision. Consider it your birthday surprise from me.”

“My birthday isn’t for another three months,” Clarke snorted.

Josie grinned. “Yeah, and aren’t you surprised?”

***

“So, she just _gave us_ a trip? For free?” Bellamy questioned sceptically, later that day. The kids had already gone to bed and he and Clarke had been cuddling on the couch, with her feet on the coffee table and her head resting against his shoulder. Bellamy was combing his fingers through Clarke’s head gently, massaging the back of her head and neck, making her melt.

Clarke popped one of her eyes open and looked up at him, nodding slowly. She couldn’t blame Bellamy for being doubtful. If her relationship with Josie was awkward and weird, Bellamy’s used to get borderline antagonistic and to this day, he still wasn’t all that used to having her back in their lives.

Still, she could tell that he was just as on the fence about the trip as she was—as in, he wanted to go but was diligently trying to find an irrefutable argument against it.

“She didn’t want it to go to waste,” Clarke confirmed, stretching a little against the back of the couch, moving so that she more on the same level as Bellamy.

“We haven’t even skied in years,” he reminded with a shake of his head.

Clarke snorted, patting his knee. “Yeah, well, we’re not going there to compete in the Olympics,” she said, dryly. “We don’t _have to_ ski. Hell, we don’t even have to leave the room, if we don’t want to,” she argued, getting more and more excited about the idea.

Bellamy looked at her with a playful smirk. “That does sound tempting,” he agreed, grinning.

Clarke wiggled her eyebrows at him suggestively, making Bellamy snort loudly. She shushed him, giggling, and buried her head into his shoulder.

“Are we seriously considering this? Leaving for four days, expecting to find someone willing to take care of the kids, just like that?” he mused, looking at Clarke with a little disbelief. It did sound crazy, when he put it like that. But for the life of her, Clarke couldn’t convince herself anymore that it was a good enough reason to stay.

“My mother would be happy to take them, and so would be the kids. They haven’t been out much lately,” Clarke said. “I’m sure Aurora would be glad to help, too.”

Bellamy nodded and then grinned at her mischievously. He wrapped his arms around Clarke’s middle and yanked her forward, so that she landed on top of him, huffing a breathless laughter. Bellamy brushed away the hair that fell over her face and smiled at her softly, eyes gleaming with excitement.

Clarke nodded enthusiastically.

“We’re going.”

***

Bellamy got out of work as quickly as he could but still, by the time they got to Sanctum, it was late evening and they were both exhausted from the long journey and the days of preparing for the trip. Nevertheless, when Clarke set foot onto the balcony of their cabin, she felt rejuvenated.

The balcony overlooked the whole of Sanctum and this late, the town was beautifully lit. A light gust of wind blew past her and sent chills down her spine but Clarke still smiled. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and when a pair of strong, warm arms wrapped itself around her shoulders, her smile widened.

Clarke leaned back against Bellamy’s chest, snuggling into his embrace. He hummed and kissed her cheek.

“There’s a hot tub in one of the bathrooms,” he muttered. “Because apparently, there are three of those.”

Clarke chuckled at his tone. Bellamy had always been a little irked by excess but even he couldn’t quite hide that the cabin—a mansion almost, was impressive.

“Later,” she said slowly and started to sway on her feet. Bellamy hugged her closer and followed her movements. “I just wanna—“ Clarke shook her head and shrugged with one shoulder. There was no way she was moving anywhere right then. In the arms of her husband, with the smell of snow and the chilly wind moving the hair around her face, she was content.

***

In the morning, Clarke woke up slowly, blinking her eyes open with no rush. For the first time in more than a year, she hadn’t been jerked awake by a crying baby, a toddler climbing over her, demanding food, or an 11-year-old complaining that his sisters wouldn’t let him sleep.

Instead, she was lying on top of her husband’s naked body, her cheek pressed against his chest, the steady beating of his heart bringing a calmness to her she hadn’t felt in a while.

Still, Clarke rolled away from Bellamy, slowly and quietly so that she wouldn’t wake him up, grabbed the button-up he’d discarded the night before and walked over to the en suite bathroom. When she came back, Bellamy had rolled over onto his stomach, his head buried into Clarke’s pillow, so she abandoned the bed altogether, picked up her phone from the nightstand and sat down on the couch in the corner.

The hour surprised her. It was almost 11 am and Clarke genuinely couldn’t remember the last time either one of them slept in so late.

As she expected, there was a string of texts from her mother, waiting to be read. Abby promised to update Clarke on _everything_ , knowing full well that her daughter was incapable of disconnecting completely, no matter how much she trusted both her mother and mother-in-law with the kids. She was just—well, they had never left the kids for this long and she was just a little ( _a lot_ ) overprotective.

“Let me guess, the kids have burned down château Griffin, your mother tied them all to a lamppost and mine is currently looking for ways to sell them off to the circus,” Bellamy spoke, voice rough with sleep.

Clarke’s head snapped up to look at him and she made a face when she saw him smirking at her. Bellamy’s eyebrows shot up in a knowing look, and Clarke stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

He snorted loudly, got up from bed and padded over to the couch, tugging on a pair of sweats on the way. He dropped down next to Clarke and plucked the phone from her fingers. Clarke could see his eyes moved and squinted as he read through the messages, stubbornly refusing to just put his damned glasses on.

Bellamy rubbed at his face once he was done but he couldn’t wipe the smug expression even if he tried. Everything was okay back home and for all that Clarke was glad about that, the attitude was unnecessary.

“Just you wait until they wanna start dating,” Clarke teased, still remembering how he tried to intimidate Octavia’s first date into submission.

“Don’t remind me,” Bellamy answered, tossing the phone over to the coffee table. She chuckled in response and tucked herself into his side, eyes closed again and all but ready to doze off.

“What are we doing today?” Bellamy asked, running his fingers through the knots in her hair. Clarke wrapped her arm around his stomach and thought about for a while, revelling in the relaxing pressure of his ministrations.

As tempting as it was to just sleep the weekend away in one of the most comfortable beds she’d ever lain on, it would’ve been a shame not to see any of Sanctum.

“We’re taking a walk,” she said into the warm skin of Bellamy’s chest and placed a soft kiss to his sternum. “A long, slow, aimless walk. And we’re stopping at every cute thing and every pretty view.”

Bellamy chuckled at her command but didn’t argue.

When they finally ate breakfast and got ready to go out, he pulled out his phone and started taking pictures. Of Clarke in her fluffy hat, of Clarke covered in snow after he jostled a branch and it all fell onto her, of the teeny tiny little snow man around the corner from their cabin.

Clarke laughed the whole time, be it at the silliness of him deciding to commemorate every second of their excursion or the pictures themselves.

After a while, she was able to wrestle the phone away from him and turned to lens on him, admiring not for the first time, how insanely beautiful and photogenic Bellamy was.

They stopped for dinner in one of the smaller restaurants when the sun began to set and ordered a bottle of excellent wine that, paired with the meal, put them both into an even more playful mood. Afterwards, they walked even further into the town, less crowded and noisy than some of the more popular resorts.

They wine coursing through their veins didn’t just warm them up but also stole away some of the inhibitions and at some point, they ended up kissing more than they walked. Clarke had no doubt that they were making a bit of a spectacle of themselves but when Bellamy moved his mouth over his jaw and his fingers dug into her sides underneath her jacket, there wasn’t a single bone in her body that cared about what anyone else thought about them.

Eventually, they made the full circle and ended up back on the path leading up to their cabin. Clarke found an empty bench a little out of the way and not ready to go back inside just yet, she tugged Bellamy over to it, so they could sit down. The thin cover of snow melted underneath them and started soaking into their coats but Clarke barely paid any attention to it, too preoccupied with Bellamy sucking a bruise into the exposed part of her neck.

“We haven’t really done that since high school,” she said when they detached from each other and just sat there side by side, pressed against each other and hands holding.

“What, hickeys?” Bellamy asked, amused.

“That, too,” she answered, laughing. “But I meant just— _this_ ,” she waved her hand around, not sure how to put it into words. “I mean, we had gone on dates and we have left the kids at home before, for a while, but this is more, uhm, carefree.”

Bellamy nodded with a hum, agreeing. “Yeah, it’s been a while.”

She knew he understood. Their kids were great and for all that raising them was exhausting at times, they were genuinely happy with them. But sometimes, Clarke missed just dating Bellamy, just going out and coming back at all hours, and making out every chance they got. This trip, unexpected, over the top and a little insane, was a little miracle, as it turned out. It was exactly what they needed.

Clarke couldn’t tell how long they sat at the bench, all she knew was that her butt was starting to grow cold and when she complained about that to Bellamy he laughed so loud she was almost embarrassed. If only she wasn’t so happy to see him like that.

Bellamy got up with a huff and pulled her off the bench, the two of them jogging towards the cabin to warm up a little.

They stopped at the fork of the path and when they looked behind, the view of the town nearly took their breath away. Clarke wiggled her fingers at him, asking for his phone so that they could take a picture but no matter how she place the camera, there was no way to capture both them and the background. Clarke huffed in frustration but then—

“Maybe we could help you with that,” a woman spoke from a few yards away. She let go of the man whose hand she’d been holding and came closer, smiling encouragingly. She looked a bit older than Abby but she reminded Clarke more of Indra, their old P.E. teacher.

Clarke nodded eagerly and handed over the phone. She threw her arms around Bellamy, less because of the pose itself and more because she knew it would get a reaction from him. And there it was—he was laughing again, to the point where small wrinkles appeared around his eyes and mouth. Clarke looked up at him, fully aware that she looked like a love-struck teenager but she couldn’t help it when that was exactly how she felt. She didn’t know what to think about it but there was something about seeing the evidence of their age that always made her happy.

Whether it was the fact that they were both starting to need reading glasses or the faint wrinkles and occasional grey hair, the markings of a life they were living together were etching themselves into their bodies and there was something she couldn’t explain, that always brought peace into her heart.

The woman took a few shots of the two of them before she handed over the phone, wished them a good holiday and re-joined her partner. The two of them walked away hand in hand, murmuring to each other.

Clarke watched them as they walked away until they disappeared from her line of sight, still wrapped around Bellamy, and when she turned to look at him, she caught him smiling down at her, the lines still visible around his mouth. She brought one of her hands up and put it on his face cupping his jaw.

“How do you think we’ll be like when we’re their age?” she asked without thinking.

“You mean in thirty years, when we’re hopefully not run over by grandkids?” Bellamy half-joked and Clarke grinned at him, her cheeks warming up with a happy blush. It didn’t matter that they were married with three kids. Hearing Bellamy make plans for the rest of their lives so easily always made her excited.

Bellamy’s fingers brushed a stray lock of hair away from her Clarke’s face and back underneath her hat.

“I think we’re gonna come back here and I’m gonna take another picture of you covered in snow.”

***

On the final day of their getaway, they had an all-out spa day planned out, courtesy of the hotel that managed the cabin they were renting. Bellamy was a bit sceptical about it at first, never one to just sit back, relax and have someone else take care of him for once, but even he relented when Clarke told him about the full body massages that might finally help him get rid of the occasional back pain he’d developed recently.

Clarke herself went for a bit more pampering, since she couldn’t be bothered with it on a daily basis and by the end the day, they were both joking that were so relaxed, they could just melt like butter on a warm toast.

Still though, as they prepared for the fancy dinner in the privacy of their own cabin’s dining room, Clarke couldn’t help but think—and not for the first time, that this trip was perfect for them.

It was easy to lose a track of time, when their days were spent raising their children, working to provide for them and make sure they had everything they needed. Their fifth wedding anniversary was coming up but there wouldn’t be an excessive celebration. Julia was starting preschool in the autumn and the both already knew it would be a major adjustment for all of them.

This opportunity to get away for even the shortest moment reminded the two of them how much fun they could still have, just the two of them. It was brilliant, to be able to be young and a little carefree, and not think about the fact that they spent all of their twenties changing a mountain of diapers.

With her hair and make-up done, Clarke pulled out her dress out of the garment bag—the same dress she bought specifically for the Valentine’s Day dinner and never had the chance to wear or even show it to Bellamy. Clarke pulled it on, suddenly strangely glad that she wasn’t wearing it in front of other people, when she remembered how short the hem was and a how deep the cleavage dipped.

It was an impulse buy and she didn’t regret it but damn, it was one of those things that was best suited to be ripped off in the throes of passion, rather than shown off to strangers. Well, hopefully, they’d get to that, too.

Stepping into her heels, Clarke checked herself in the mirror one last time and satisfied with the final effect, she walked out of the bedroom to meet Bellamy in the dining room, where the hotel staff had set up the dinner for them.

The table was impressive and the decorations turned the room into an intimate, beautiful bubble but Clarke and Bellamy only had eyes for each other.

In the heat of the moment, Bellamy had even agreed to a professional shave and a haircut, and now that he’d put a suit on, he looked just as good as he did on their wedding day—and yet, somehow even better. This time, there were no nerves, just blessed certainty and familiarity in their eyes. There was no-one else around, just the two of them, smiling at each other like they did on their very first date.

“Wow,” Bellamy whispered when Clarke finally stood in front of him. His eyes were roaming all over her like he couldn’t just settle on one detail and wanted to take her all in, all at once.

Clarke grinner at him and put a hand over his heart, her fingers smoothing down the lapel of his jacket. “We do clean up nice, don’t we?” she joked but before she could even chuckle at her own joke, Bellamy had captured her lips in a searing kiss and they only separated, panting heavily, when the oven dinged, announcing that their food was ready.

They went through most of the meal and two bottles of excellent red wine talking the whole time about anything and everything. Clarke felt warm inside, and not just because of the food and alcohol, thinking about how that was what brought them together in the first place, when they were in high school. Two kids who seemingly couldn’t have less in common, and yet they always found something to discuss. Even when they didn’t like each other very much, they could talk the night away.

And watching Bellamy talk, his entire body engaged in the conversation, was still Clarke’s favourite pastime.

When the second bottle ended, Clarke put their glasses aside while Bellamy brought them dessert—and a small gift bag hanging from his finger.

“Bell, I thought we agreed we weren’t supposed to do gifts,” she protested, frowning. But Bellamy just shrugged one shoulder, put the plates down on the table and took his seat.

“If I remember correctly, you said not to bother with gifts,” he shot back, taking a forkful of cake into his mouth.

Clarke stabbed her piece with her fork and sent her husband an unimpressed look. “We _agreed_ that we’re already spending money, we shouldn’t be any more extravagant.”

Bellamy slid the gift back over the table and stopped in front of her plate, smirking mischievously.

“Well, then it’s a good thing I didn’t technically buy anything,” he countered, smug as ever.

Clarke frowned, confused, and reached for the bag. Inside, she found a large velvet box and when she opened it, it took her breath away.

She took out her father’s old watch, ticking steadily and loudly, good as new. Her mouth fell open and she just watched the hand travel all the way round.

“You fixed my dad’s watch?” Clarke asked, incredulous. It’s been years since it stopped working and she’d been meaning to take care of it all this time but she never got around to actually do it. She couldn’t believe Bellamy even remembered about it.

“Well, not me, specifically,” Bellamy stammered, as if suddenly shy. “Raven helped me find someone and it wasn’t even that hard to fix. They bracelet had to be replaced, though, but I asked them to find something as close to the original as possible,” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

Clarke rubbed the dark leather straps and the glass over the dial, with all the familiar scratches but now cleaned and polished. Her vision blurred with unshed tears and with her fingers clutching the watch tightly, Clarke threw her arms around Bellamy’s neck, all but falling out of her chair. Bellamy put his hands on her waist and pulled her into his lap. He dug his fingers into her sides and kissed the side of her head.

“Thank you,” Clarke whispered into his ear and she could feel the skin over his cheek stretch as he smiled.

“Babe, I don’t want you to think that me getting you a gift is a bother,” Bellamy said quietly, into her hair. “I want to give you the world.”

A single tear rolled down Clarke’s cheek and she wiped it off, smiling. She pulled away to look at her husband.

“That was cheesy as hell, you know that, right?” she teased with a grin. Bellamy pinched her sides in retaliation and they both ended up laughing out loud, with Clarke squirming in his lap, trying to get away from Bellamy’s tickling fingers.

***

When all the food was gone and they were finally able to get up, Clarke had a wild idea to go for another walk.

It was quite late already and even most of the Sanctum’s partygoers had already retired to their homes, which seemed like the perfect moment to go out.

They didn’t go far because Clarke was still only wearing her somewhat indecently short dress under her coat and they must’ve looked a little ridiculous, with their elegant wear and snow boots, but there was something in the air in Sanctum that was almost hypnotising.

With Bellamy’s arm wrapped around Clarke’s shoulders, she tucked herself into his side, hands coming around his waist and they walked around the cabin and down the path slowly. They stopped a few paces away from the bench they sat on the other day and just stood there, enjoying the moment.

“I’m happy,” Clarke muttered out of the blue, her speech already a little slurred from the alcohol, food and the late hour.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Bellamy answered. “It was a good idea to come here.”

“Yeah,” Clarke agreed with a sigh. “But I mean, like, generally. Our life is a little crazy, we have three loud, stubborn and insanely active children, and we practically had to steal this trip from under my cousin just to get some time to ourselves but it’s just—good. Cause we’re doing it together.”

Bellamy snorted softly but his voice was gentle and content when he spoke. “Oh, and I was being cheesy?”

Clarke shrugged and looked up at her husband.

“I’m not wrong, though. Am I?”

Bellamy shook his head with a wide smile and kissed the tip of Clarke’s nose. “No, of course you’re right.”

Content, Clarke let out a long breath and burrowed herself even deeper into his embrace.

“I love you, Bellamy.”

“I love you, too, Princess.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked this! thank you so very much for reading. comments and kudos will be welcomed like manna ;-)  
> come and find me on tumblr @[carrieeve](https://carrieeve.tumblr.com).


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